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I turn off the stove and go set the table. Mick emerges in a long sleeve tee and jeans. As if he’d given himself a pep talk, his mood is much improved.
“It smells delicious in here.” He folds his arms around me and nuzzles my neck. “You smell even better.”
I take a rallying breath. “Your phone rang several times while you were in the shower.”
“Thanks.” His lips trace my ear. “I’ll take a look later.”
“I…um…in case it was an emergency or something…I checked.”
He pauses. I can feel the tension roll through him like a ball of knotted wire.
“It was someone named Mackie.”
His head lifts to look at me. “You answered my phone?” Disapproval hardens his voice.
“No. But obviously that would be a problem for you.” Turning from him, I retrieve two plates from the cupboard, feeling too slighted to care if I’m overreacting. I mean, really…if he’s not hiding anything, then what’s the big deal?
“Dee,” he says behind me.
I set the plates down on the counter harder than intended. They clatter against the granite as I spin around to face him. “I read the text. Maybe I shouldn’t have but I did. This Mackie is extremely angry. He said you sent him aneat shit and die letterfrom your lawyer. What’s that about?”
The vein pulses at his temple. “Nothing.”
Going from hurt to outrage over the blatant lie, I glower at him. “Oh, I see. I’m someone to fuck, but not to trust.”
“Christ.” His own anger spikes. “Don’t try to make what I think of what we do together sound cheap and meaningless. You know how much I love you.”
“Love isn’t enough. Not without trust and open communication.”
“You know things about me that no one else does. How the hell can you possibly think I don’t trust you?”
“That’s not an answer.” Our relationship hadn’t survived secrets and eluding the first time around and it wouldn’t survive them now. “Talk to me, Mick. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Dammit.” He releases a harsh breath and paces away. “Mackie is my agent.”
“Your agent?”
“Yes.” The small kitchen allows him little room to walk off his frustration. Two long strides down the galley and back to me. “I hired Beckett MacAllister nearly eleven years ago. He saw an opportunity to take me from popular to superstar status. He got his fair share…made plenty of money representing me. Naturally when I quit the NBA, he wasn’t ready to see the cash flow end.
“Since my retirement, he’s been trying to entice me back with high profile opportunities. I told him that wasn’t going to happen, but he chose to believe I was just taking a hiatus…that once I got past my grief and got bored of Papa’s Kids, I’d return to the spotlight.” Mick stops in front of me. The look on his face is a mix of anger and disgust.
“Beckett’s latest prospect was for me to host a sports talk show. When he called on Friday, while I was on my way here, I told him flat out no. He went on about striking while the iron was still hot. I didn’t feel like getting into it with him then. I was looking forward to being with you. So, I ignored his efforts of persuasion. Figured Monday would be soon enough to put an end to it. But Mackie had other plans. It wasn’t Lexie’s mother or anyone at the party who leaked my attendance at the Lemon Lounge to the press. It was him.”
“What?” My hand flies to my mouth in surprise. “How do you know that?”
“He said something that gave him away. Then he admitted it. Not only did he send the press to the Lemon Lounge, he’s the one responsible for them being at the community center that day. His way, he said, of keeping me relevant. Fucking unbelievable. It’s my fault for hittingO’Malley, but Beckett set that ball in motion. My own agent. Someone who I thought had my back.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You live and learn,” he says dismissively. And yet, I can see how stinging that betrayal was for him. “I had my lawyer draw up the paperwork to end our contract. The payout isn’t as lucrative as continued work would be, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s lucky I don’t sue him and ruin his reputation. The fact that he’s pissed now, isn’t my problem.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
“It just happened yesterday, Dee.”
“That’s not the reason. You weren’t going to tell me, were you?”
He releases a lamented sigh. “No.”
